May 02, 2009

Your Lawmakers at Work

A House subcommittee heard two hours of testimony Friday on the fairness of the Bowl Championship Series. It's two hours of my life I'll never get back.

This coming from somebody who wants to see a playoff system in big-time college football.

Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I fear for the country if this is the best and the brightest of our lawmakers.

While I never considered a career in politics, after watching this grandstanding event, maybe it's time to take out the papers.

Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times has a comical and sometimes painful recap of the proceedings. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) introduced BCS coordinator John Swofford as the commissioner of the Athletic Coast Conference. He also said commissioner Craig Thompson represented the West Mountain. Correction: It's the Mountain West.

Joe Barton (R-Texas) said this: "You could have a playoff system with 64 teams, and use every bowl that's currently in there. You could do that."

I think the BCS is a total joke, a pathetic excuse for determining a national champion. There should be a playoff system, it would be more interesting and raise more money.

With that said, this was nothing but grandstanding. It is a complete waste of taxpayer money and any politicians who helped to set this up deserve to be voted out of office. Out of all the things Joe Barton could be focusing on he decides to spend his time worrying about the BCS. Because that's the most important thing there is. Typical politician.

Also, Barton complained that the BCS was all about money. Is that a news flash to him? Look at the University of Texas, in his backyard. They spend nearly $100 million per year on an athletic budget. Why doesn't he rail against that machine. Because, that would make him unpopular. It's simple hypocrisy.

It has been amusing to see a number of articles being posted by sports writers that focus on the congressional grandstanding. Is this the first time people have watched this channel? :)

Call me crazy. But, I watch C-SPAN a lot. Over time, I've developed the theory that 90% of our political issues would be solved if others would ditch their MSNBC, Jonathan Stewart, major news network filters and just watched C-SPAN for one hour a week. It's amazing to me how much different the actual events look without edits, flashy graphics and voter-guide commentary or jokes. It's also amazing how quickly you can recognize the idiots from the experts. People whom you never would have expected to be so low if you had never actually seen them "doing" their job without media gloss.

That said, the BCS issue won't be decided by those clowns anyway. As is usually the case, there are other people behind the scenes that architect such matters. Lawyers, industry experts, lobbyists and others. The hearings were not about getting to the heart of the matter. It was for politicians to try and gain some street cred for bashing something everyone knows is wildly unpopular. The goal was to be the guy that spoke the line that would get air time on ESPN.

Despite the predictable nonsense, I'm optimistic that there will be change. It is the role of government to enforce our laws and I believe that the BCS does violate them. Not sure why anyone would think that government has better things to do than to enforce our laws. College Football is a massive industry. It's not a waste of time simply because it involves something that can also be fun.